The Memior Series
by IrisDedrick
Summary: Chapter one is about Tifa, and the life she leads after the end of the group and their journeys. Very descriptive and flowing! (There will be one chapter for each character, so check frequently!) Please Review!


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, so I can't really stake claim to this piece of writing...so technically I can't copyright it...so really...there's nothing to stop   
  
people from stealing it...but...uh...I'll be really really mad if you do! ^_^ The song at the end of the fic is by Trapt. I don't own that either. Actually, I really don't own   
  
any of this besides my pen name.   
  
And I'll be REALLY MAD if you steal that. ^_^ Just read and review.  
  
The Memoir Series  
  
By IrisDedrick  
  
  
  
Over the restless cyan expanse between Juno and Costa del Sol, the blazing red-orange sun blinked away its last memories of day, and slipped behind the   
  
horizon altogether. As it went peacefully into the night, a bluish light settled comfortably about the land far below the Highwind's deck. The hazy post-sunset blur   
  
curled itself around her, seeping into her eyelids. The stillness of the moment slowed her breathing, relaxed her tired body, and she did not resist the tempation to   
  
drink deeply of the perfumed summer air being stirred by the airship's propellers.  
  
Sleepily, she blinked the comforting embrace of the night away as best she could. But the beckoning of solitude and comforting darkness would not be   
  
brushed aside so easily. It ran its tempting fingers through her hair, as if soothing her into the thoughts that had whisperd to her quietly on so many different times.   
  
With a sigh of sorrowful submission, Tifa dutifully closed her eyes as her mind drifted back to the days of her youth and passion.   
  
"Where are you going?" She asked while shuffling her feet, not daring to meet his violently blue eyes with hers.   
  
"I don't know." He answered. A sharp 'click' was heard as he strapped his buckle onto his right shoulder. The sound, though small and seemingly  
  
insignificant, sent her heart racing with frenzy.  
  
He really wasn't leaving. Her hero would never leave her when she needed him. He had promised her that. And even if he still held doubts   
  
about the validity of his memories, she most certainly did not question her own. No, he wouldn't break a promise to her. He said that he would be   
  
there when she needed him.  
  
And right now, she needed him more than ever.  
  
"I'll go somewhere private. Somewhere without people, or scientists, or throngs of idolizing little boys." Cloud offered coldly after her stretch of   
  
silence. Still not daring to rest her eyes upon him, she focused instead on the oaken floor of the Coast del Sol villa belonging to the both of them.   
  
Although they had bought it during their adventures to serve as a sort of Home Base, it now simply served as their living quarters. The sound of ocean   
  
waves drifted through the open window, teasing both of their senses with a bit if familiarity that was soon to evaporate like seafoam upon the beach.   
  
She remained seated on the quilt-covered bed as he strode from room to room, collecting his things and filling his knapsack with articles of   
  
clothing, low level Materia, and armor. His weapon, Ultimate, was strapped to his side as it always was. He was hardly ever found without it.  
  
Her eyes burned with the threat of tears, but she kept her emotion carefully in check. Cloud was not a man for teary good-byes, and was not  
  
likely to take to one kindly. Especially not when he wore that mask over his features; the same one that had kept his thoughts and feelings a secret   
  
from her and the others for what had seemed like centuries. The one that she thought he had discarded long ago.   
  
She heard his heavy footsteps enter the room she was waiting in. Unable to control her emotion any longer, she buried her face in her hands   
  
and choked back a sob.  
  
"You're leaving. You're leaving me here. And you won't even tell me why." she breathed in a shaky voice, trying desperately to control the lump   
  
rising into her throat.   
  
The silence that stretched between them could have been an eternity. For what seemed like hours, the only sounds that penetrated   
  
the panic and gloom of the moment were that of the sighing sea and shrieking children splashing in the surf.  
  
"I've stayed long enough." was all he said as he noisily shifted his pack from one shoulder to the other.   
  
Finally able to face him, she layed her hands in her lap and met his azure blue with her red-rimmed brown. He was just as handsome as he had   
  
been when they had met. Although his blonde hair was now tinged with grey, it still held the sheen of spun gold. With each passing winter, it showed   
  
more signs of a complete color transformation from glossy yellow to an aged white. He had stopped styling it into threatening spikes years ago. Instead,   
  
it was pulled into a loose ponytail that trailed halfway down back, still as lean at forty as it had been at twenty-five.   
  
"You mean that you've stayed long enough with me."  
  
No reply was given, or needed.  
  
"You visited the City of the Ancients, stayed silent for months, and now you're hurrying out the door without so much as a farewell." she half   
  
accused in a strangled voice. Still, the unwavering man stood firm.   
  
"Cloud, for God's sake, what did you find there?"  
  
At this, his carefully woven mask crumbled. His face contorted into a snarl as he strode quickly and deliberately to her and stabbed an   
  
up-turned palm inches in front of her.  
  
"THAT is what I found."  
  
Although she was alarmed and appalled at his loss of control, she could do nothing but stare dumbstruck at the white and green marble-sized   
  
stone centered in the crease of his black glove.   
  
It seemed so unassuming...so small. The green was vibrant, constantly swirling and storming with the pure white it contrasted deeply.   
  
Her gaze changed from the Materia to his face. To her surprise, his eyes were clenched shut against the tears that were slowly tracking down his   
  
cheeks. With a struggled breath, he sniffed once, replaced the Materia to his breast pocket, and slowly fought to regain composure.  
  
"I'm leaving, Tifa. She's calling to me. Aeris is calling to me." he struggled to say with a shaky and unconfident voice.   
  
Before her eyes, he visibly wilted. His eyes lost their lustre, his body its tension, and his spirit seemed to deflate. The hollows of his cheeks   
  
became all too apparent as his spirit and aura of strength withered. And all of a sudden, he looked old, tired, and haggard. All of a sudden, he looked   
  
as Sephiroth had in defeat.   
  
She could do nothing but nod.   
  
  
  
Her mind became her own once again, and she felt the wind brush against her damp eyes and lips. An aching numbness throbbed in her chest where her   
  
love for Cloud had once dwelled instead. But, even before the journeys and battles had started, she had known that there was no keeping Cloud; that he was as   
  
tempermental and unpredictable as the sea that the Highwind was now settled over.   
  
It had been five years since he had left. By now, she had come to grips with the fact that he would never return to her side.   
  
Perhaps the death of Cid had finally made her realize that there was no going back to the way it was; no more grand adventures or evil enemies to vanquish.  
  
There would be no more 'group.' Instead, the dubbed 'Living Legends' tried to pick up the broken pieces of the lives and somehow, someway, put them back  
  
together again.   
  
But Tifa had come to the conclusion that her pieces had been ground into a fine dust by the departure of Cloud. Too many dreams had been broken, too   
  
many illusions shattered.  
  
She closed her eyes once more, drinking deeply of the perfumed summer air, letting the darkness move into her and take her soul in its embrace.   
  
Suddenly, she felt free. Calm. Accepting. She simply felt peaceful.   
  
  
  
Without a thought, regret, or emotion other than serenity, Tifa opened her wings, greeted the evening, and flew.   
  
~*~  
  
"Stories"  
  
Trapt  
  
I found a lie  
  
and then it grew  
  
I found myself  
  
still thinking of you  
  
I felt so empty   
  
and now I find  
  
but still it's burning  
  
when will you been mine?  
  
Too much of the same  
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time for a change  
  
don't you?  
  
too much of the same   
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time to   
  
walk away from here.  
  
Stories in our lives  
  
we keep them all inside  
  
stories in our lives  
  
we keep them all inside  
  
Look at me  
  
still in your mind  
  
our memories   
  
so entertwined  
  
when you broke through  
  
you found your way  
  
and so did I  
  
no need to stay  
  
same old picture  
  
tried and true  
  
we've been through that   
  
let's look for something new  
  
Too much of the same  
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time for a change,  
  
don't you?  
  
too much of the same   
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time for us to  
  
walk away from here.  
  
Do you remember lying on   
  
the beach late at night?  
  
Do you remember running  
  
through the sprinklers that night?  
  
Do you remember   
  
all the songs that I have wrote for you,  
  
all the songs that I have wrote for you?  
  
I remember the way you   
  
made me feel when I was with you  
  
I remember the smile that always   
  
brought me back to you  
  
that look in you eyes  
  
I never thought that this could be untrue  
  
that look in you eyes  
  
I never thought that this could be untrue  
  
Too much of the same  
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time for a change  
  
don't you?  
  
too much of the same   
  
stories in our lives  
  
I think it's time for us to  
  
walk away from here.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
So that's part 1of the series. There should be one for each character in Final Fantasy VII. Eventually I'll get around to doing one for VIII and IX too,  
  
but neither of those have nearly a depressing ended as VII does! So...for now we'll still to this. Continue reading them, please! I enjoy the feedback.  
  
Love,   
  
Iris. 


End file.
